2. Bread; I used... flour tortillas, shredded. Olive oil/ sumac/ thyme/ fleur de sel (yes, za'atar without the sesamseeds). Bake in the oven at 180°C. Let cool entirely before consumption!! Comes out nice and crispy when cooled! Of course you can use all kinds of oriental bread as well.

3. Meatballs; 50/50 pork and veal/ same amount lean beef/ 1 egg/ panko/ chili/ parmezan/ chives (a lot!). Fry the meatballs in a pan with oil. When almost done, add sieved tomato sauce and let simmer until done. I cut one meatball to show how it looks inside.

Forgot to mention there's a very finely chopped raw shallot and clove of garlic in the meat too. I wouldn't do that with a rougher cut onion; I like to soften them first in a pan and cool them before adding to the meat.

The recipe would be a lot more original using lambmeat, spices like cumin etc. and Libanese bread or similar. But, this is a nice and simple western alternative.

I would not have thought about using regular flour tortillas to make middle east flatbread. Plus, funny you mention using Panko in your meatballs. I made some Danish Frikadellar a few nights ago and realized that I had forgotten to buy flour, so used my last little splash of flour then substituted panko for the rest of the filler. I was afraid of them not tasting authentic enough, but they were delicious without tasting quite so 'heavy'. Ever add a little cumin to your middle-eastern meatballs?

Cumin in meatballs is delicious when used sparingly. Indeed, I should have added some.

Yesterday I was in my regular etnic shop and found a package of "Jordanian thyme". I didn't buy it since the ingredient list mentioned; thyme, salt, sumac, sesam; that's simply za'atar. Everything was ground together in a strange fluffy looking mixture, with white sesam seeds added.

I'm still looking for the specific kind of thyme they use in za'atar, seems to taste more like oregano than thyme. Haven't found it yet.